New Jersey Ranked 6th For Lowest Crime Rate

Well, this seems like decently good news. New Jersey was ranked 6th best in the nation when it comes to crime rate. As in, we have a low crime rate compared to other states in the country. The national rankings in crime were released as part of US News & World Report's annual "best states" report.

US News & World Report does an annual report that ranks states on important factors. Those factors include crime, economy, environment, education, healthcare, opportunity, infrastructure, and fiscal stability. Their report on our state puts us in the top ten for crime, health care and education. However, that's where the good news ends. New Jersey ranked 6th for low crime means we're well above the national average.

The top ten ranking of the Garden State for low crime is based on two kinds of criminal activity and based on FBI data. The two kinds of activity are violent crime and property crime. Violent crime includes murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery. Meanwhile, property crime is burglary, car theft, and so forth. Despite the news reports, New Jersey has a crime rate well below the national average.

In fact, New Jersey's violent crime is nearly half of the national average. New Jersey's property crime rate is 20% under the national average. So, that's how New Jersey ranked 6th for crime.

Sadly, that's where the good news ends for Garden State residents. Because NJ looks pretty awful in some of the other categories. For example:

Clearly, the good people of New Jersey have some work to do. Despite those poor numbers, the fact that New Jersey ranked 6th for low crime pushes us higher than you'd think overall. The current report from US News & World Report ranks New Jersey at #14 when taking all factors into account.